maiden voyage into blog space

Hi and welcome to Knitting 101. I teach Marine Biology at Pacific Palisades Charter High School in southern California and am an avid knitter. Two years ago we started a club here at Pali called Knit For the Needy. My girls (and a few boys) earned community service credit (a graduation requirement) for knitting items for homeless shelters, cancer hospitals, retirement homes, premies, etc. Our club meets Wednesday's at lunch. The kids come in, bring their knitting, and we plan our projects. As interest grew, i found myself spending each lunch hour teaching another kid the basics of knitting. The more advanced kids were bringing friends and teaching them to learn. Our network began to grow. In February, I got an idea. Why not teach a class here at Pali? So I jumped into the process of adding a new class to our schedule. After jumping through a few hoops, we got our wish. In the fall, Pali will offer their first ever Knitting class! I am expecting 30 students, with different ability levels. I have been given great advice from many people. Nancy at Stitches From the Heart and Janet, the clothing teacher here at Pali have both given me awesome advice. So, for the next few months, I will be designing the curriculum for the class, inventing projects that are borth fun and can help the community.